Audit Scotland and Youth Scotland launch Inform 100 to engage young people in public services

Inform 100 is an exciting new project where young people will help Audit Scotland look at public services in Scotland.

The Inform 100 programme will work with Audit Scotland and Youth Scotland to make young people’s voices heard about public services that affect Scotland’s communities. A core group of 16-20 Young Advisors will participate in creative and engaging meetings every two months and join residential training. A wider group will comprise the Inform 100 forum, using an online forum to participate, engage and give feedback as public service users.

Thanks to the focus that the Year of Young People has brought to the tremendous contribution Scotland's younger generation make, launching Inform 100 couldn't be better timed and should deliver a lasting legacy of co-production and engagement around our public services.

Applications to participate are now open, closing 31 August 2018. Applicants should be aged 12-25 and apply with parental/guardian consent if under 16.

Following the selection process, the Young Advisor group will have their initial meeting at a training residential as soon as September. The programme will run for two years, ending June 2020.

Diane McGiffen, Chief Operating Officer at Audit Scotland, said: “We are looking forward to involving young people more in our work and to their voices and experiences being part of the audit process.

We are really excited about working with the panel. It will also give those involved on our Youth Advisory Panel valuable experience and skills.”

Ian McLaughlan, Chief Executive of Youth Scotland said, "We're absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with Audit Scotland to bring such a fantastic opportunity to the young people of Scotland. Audit Scotland's work with our public services is vital and I'm confident that getting our young people engaged and involved at this level will be hugely beneficial for everyone involved."

For editors:

In its 2014 follow-up audit on Scotland’s public finances: ‘Progress in meeting the challenges’, Audit Scotland itself identified that options for the delivery of public services need to be rigorously appraised “based on sound information, including information from service users’. This is consistent with the view that co-produced public services, where professionals and people using services mutually identify how services are delivered, can lead to improved efficiencies and better outcomes.

Therefore it is essential that people who use services are also involved in scrutiny to assure the people of Scotland that public money is spent properly and delivering outcomes that matter to people.

About Audit Scotland

Audit Scotland provides the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission with the services they need. We give independent assurance to the people of Scotland that public money is spent properly, efficiently and effectively.

We are Scotland’s network for community based youth work. We provide quality youth work programmes, information, resources, training and support to local youth workers and groups.

We deliver a range of projects and services which support a network of over 1,100 youth groups running in diverse communities the length and breadth of Scotland. These groups work with over 64,000 young people up to 25 years of age. Young people are supported by more than 7,500 passionate and committed youth workers, of whom nearly 5,000 are volunteers.